More than three million displaced and refugees from the war in Sudan, according to the United Nations

More than three million people have fled their homes in Sudan, where war has raged for three months, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

Sudan’s nearly three-month conflict between the army and paramilitaries has forced more than three million people to flee their homes, the UN said on Wednesday (July 12th).

The number of people who have fled the fighting abroad in Sudan is approaching 724,000, while the number of internally displaced persons in the country exceeds 2.4 million, according to the online data portal of the International Organization for Migration (OIM), a United Nations agency.

“We have passed the number of three million people displaced by the conflict in Sudan,” IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told AFP.

“It’s more than just a number. It’s about people who have been uprooted, who have fled for their lives, families who have been separated and children who will no longer be able to go to school,” she added .

Egypt and Chad are the countries that have received the largest number of people fleeing the violence in Sudan.

The actual number of people who have fled the country is certainly higher than the figure given by the IOM, as the number of arrivals in Egypt – almost 256,000 – dates back to 18 June.

“An immediate cessation of hostilities is urgently needed”

Since April 15, the conflict has pitted the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, against paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), led by General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.

Former allies, the two generals now vie for power and seem determined to achieve it by force.

“We simply cannot turn away from Sudan. There is an urgent need for an immediate cessation of hostilities,” the IOM spokesman stressed on Wednesday. And “we need the continued support of the international community to provide assistance and protection to those affected by the conflict”, she insisted.

The war threw the country – among the poorest in the world – into chaos. But while the humanitarian needs of the population and people fleeing the violence are increasing, humanitarian organizations complain about the lack of generosity of the international community.

Again on Tuesday, Pierre Honnorat, head of the World Food Program (WFP) in Chad, explained to journalists in Geneva, by video conference, that the appeal for funds was clearly underfunded in relation to the needs. “People are running across the border, wounded, scared, with their children in their arms and with only the clothes they are wearing. They need security and humanitarian aid.”

AFP